Burlington, a sort-of bike friendly community

There's a good primer in 7days on how the north/south plan has stalled, though I have to note that:

1. Burlington's "bike friendly" designation was awarded in 2005, technically expired in 2007, and we haven't submitted another application to be reevaluated.  (I actually submitted the application in '05, with a lot of input from Local Motion and Nicole Losch's predecessor)
2. I don't see how the hill on South Winooski is any less of a killer than the one on Battery.  Battery, at least, has better pavement and I feel more confident going down the hill.  I try to avoid both when going up.
3. It would be nice if the article tried to delve deeper into the "why" the north/south plan has stalled.  Is it really simply a problem of bureaucratic red tape and lack of a champion in City Hall?  Could be, but I didn't get a good sense of that from the article.
4. I don't really like to compare cycling in Burlington to cycling in fairer weather cities like Austin, Portland (OR) or Seattle.  Cycling in winter is a tough sell (heck, I don't do it!), but we should certainly be doing at least as well as *Minneapolis* in providing decent cycling facilities. 

Assuming the city council approves the "complete streets" design on Colchester Ave, which received a lot of positive comments, here's hoping that South Winooski and North Ave go next!